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Nov
2016
Chief Justice John RobertsAn Alabama death row inmate may be alive today because a transgender Virginia high school student was denied the use of the bathroom of his choice this year.The 2 seemingly unrelated cases have one thing in common: In each, a Supreme Court justice switched sides
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Nov
2016
Execution chamber, San Quentin State Prison, CaliforniaDEATH PENALTY POLITICS--When Mike Ramos, the current district attorney for San Bernardino County (and candidate for California Attorney General), pleaded for Californians to send him one million dollars at the end of April -- so he could afford
Public beheading in Saudi Arabia2 Malayalis in Saudi Arabia who were on death row for murdering another Keralite, were pardoned by the Saudi king.Shaji Sedhumadhavan of Vazhikadavu near Nilambur and his accomplice Abdul Rasaq of Irikkur in Kannur were arrested by the police for murdering Senmon
Nebraska: Gathering signatures against the death penalty repealCalifornia and Nebraska will decide next week whether they will keep the death penalty and both measures would have national implications on the debate over capital punishment. Polls show voters are conflicted.Ballot measures
Charles and Camilla to Make Official Trip to BahrainThe Government must ensure that the UK Royal Family raise the issue of torture and the death penalty when they visit Bahrain in the coming week, human rights organization Reprieve has said.Prince Charles and
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Prosecutors at the Semarang District Court in Central Java have demanded the death penalty for 5 defendants in a major drug-smuggling case, including Pakistani citizens Muhammad Riaz and Faiq Akhtar and US national Kamran Malik, aka Philip Russel.The 3 have been indicted for trafficking 9704
Nov
2016
Iran: Barbaric and medieval punishments2 prisoners were executed at Salmas Prison (west Azerbaijan province, northwestern Iran) on drug related charges.According to close sources, 1 of the prisoners, identified as Sami Mamadi, was hanged on Monday October 31.According to the Kurdistan Human
A federal judge Monday denied a group of death row inmates' challenge to the state's use of lethal injection in executions.But then Chief U.S. District Judge Keith Watkins turned to medical professionals.In a critique at the end of a 29-page opinion - titled "Alternative Method Evidence02
Nov
2016
The Supreme Court on Monday stayed the execution of Imdad Ali, a schizophrenic man convicted in 2002 of murdering a cleric. The hanging was postponed on the basis of Ali's mental illness. The court issued notices to the Advocate General Punjab, the Prosecutor General Punjab and the Attorney02
Nov
2016
Nebraska Governor (R) Pete RickettsThe group campaigning to permanently end the death penalty in Nebraska has released an audio clip of Gov. Pete Ricketts’ lieutenant governor voicing his opposition to it in 2014.Then-State Auditor Mike Foley was running for governor at the time and was explaining02
Nov
2016
Oklahoma's Death ChamberOKLAHOMA'S state constitution is among the nation's longest, largely because it is packed with provisions that should have been handled in statute. If anything, the Oklahoma Constitution should be reduced in size, not expanded.That alone justifies opposition to State01
Nov
2016
"If we insist on pumping caustic, corrosive drugs into other human beings,our Constitution demands it not cause excruciating pain."Alabama’s last execution may have burned a man alive because the “consciousness assessment” it administers is about as scientific as someone jostling you when you nod
Phone lines in the execution chamber's controlroom at San Quentin State Prison, CaliforniaCrossing the Richmond Bridge to San Quentin State Prison, the fog-shrouded compound looks ominous. It is the biggest, most expensive death row facility in the Western
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Nov
2016
Indonesia’s president Joko WidodoAhead of three-day visit to Australia, Jokowi says Indonesians are ‘very open’ to changing their minds on execution lawsIndonesia’s president Joko Widodo has indicated his country wants to move towards abolishing the death penalty.Speaking ahead of a three-day05
Nov
2016
Portugal's foreign minister Augusto Santos SilvaPortugal's foreign minister has said that Equatorial Guinea must abolish the death penalty immediately or its membership of the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries (CPLP) will be illegitimate."From Portugal's point of view, [the abolition of05
Nov
2016
Public beheading in Saudi ArabiaMunir al-Adam says he signed a confession only after being beaten so badly he lost hearing in one earSaudi Arabia is set to behead a disabled man for taking part in anti-government protests.A specialised criminal court in Riyadh, the Arab kingdom's capital, Leggi
Medieval and barbaric: Public beheading in Saudi ArabiaThe Saudi authorities have sentenced a young disabled man to beheading in relation to his alleged attendance at protests, it’s emerged.Munir Adam, 23, was arrested in 2012 in the wake of protests in the country’s Eastern Province.
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Nov
2016
"The prime minister's statement that any reinstatement of the death penalty inTurkey cannot be retroactive is very important and correct."A reinstatement of capital punishment appears to be in the pipeline in Turkey. Although it looks like Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahceli
Tommy ArthurAlabama death row inmate Tommy Arthur on Tuesday was still waiting for the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals to rule on whether it will grant a stay of execution.Arthur is set to die by lethal injection at 6 p.m. on Thursday [November 3, 2016].If the appeal is granted,
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Nov
2016
Ruslan Kulekbaev in an Almaty courtroom on October 25, 2016A Kazakh court has sentenced a man to death on terrorism charges.The court in Kazakhstan's largest city of Almaty found Ruslan Kulekbaev, 26, guilty of murder, attempted murder, and terrorism on November 2.
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Nov
2016
Turkish President Tayyip ErdoganPresident Tayyip Erdogan's remarks on Oct. 29, in which he said reinstating the death penalty could be on parliament's agenda "soon," rekindled debates about the quality of democracy in Turkey and also put the country's position in further jeopardy vis-a-vis European02
Nov
2016
Death row cell, San Quentin State prison, California"The [US Supreme]Court has said repeatedly that the sole justifications for capital punishment are the roles it plays in deterring murder and in exacting retribution."FIFTY YEARS AGO, American support for the death penalty was as low as Leggi01
Nov
2016
Death row cell, San Quentin prison, CaliforniaVoters in California will decide to abolish capital punishment or put in place measures to allow more killingsAs the only fully westernised country to use capital punishment, the US is a glaring outlier in the developed world. Seen from
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Nov
2016
Death row cell, San Quentin State prison, CaliforniaDays before California voters decide whether to ban capital punishment or expedite executions, state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation officials have sent a new execution protocol to its final administrative review."The Office of05
Nov
2016
Dylann RoofThe impact of race on criminal justice is one of the hottest topics of our time. Today's police-shooting videos have not revealed something new, they have revealed, in a new way, a legacy of racial hatred and violence that is embedded in our nation's DNA, and more and more
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Nov
2016
Vice President Emmerson MnangagwaZimbabwe last week pardoned 10 inmates who were on death row after they requested for Presidential clemency while the remaining 80 will also survive the gallows if Government resolves to completely abolish capital punishment for all crimes, Vice President Emmerson05
Nov
2016
Recep Tayyip ErdoganDuring the cabinet meeting presided over by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan earlier this week, the reinstatement of capital punishment was among the key issues. He looked in the face of cabinet ministers and asked: "What will happen for my 241 martyrs [killed during the military04
Nov
2016
Ohio's death chamberAppeals court dismisses death-row challengeA Cincinnati appeals court Wednesday dismissed challenges to an Ohio law that promises to shield the identities of some of those involved in the execution process, including pharmacies that manufacture the drugs.In a 2-1 decisionTommy ArthurThe U.S. Supreme Court has stopped the execution of an Alabama inmate convicted in a 1982 murder-for-hire.Five justices voted to grant the stay late Thursday night for inmate Tommy Arthur as the high court considers whether to review Arthur's appeals.The decision was handed down about
Screenshot from 'Dead Man Walking', by Tim Robbins (1995)Does the death penalty provide true justice and closure to victims?On May 15th 2015, a federal jury condemned Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to death for his role in killing four people and injuring hundreds in the Boston Marathon bombings in02
Nov
2016
Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon (left) and Mr Eugene ThuraisingamEven after appealing twice, his client was still sentenced to hang for trafficking in drugs.But lawyer Eugene Thuraisingam held on to hope that he could save his client, Dinesh Pillai Reja Retnam, a Malaysian national
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Nov
2016
Larry SwearingenInmate says Court of Criminal Appeals has deprived him of the right to prove his innocence.A death row inmate has sued the state's highest criminal court and its 9 judges, arguing that they have deprived him of the opportunity to prove his innocence.Lawyers for death row inmate
“That $14.6 million every year would be better spent on tax breaks for hardworking Nebraska families, or to aid some of the struggling state agencies”LINCOLN - One week before voters decide the fate of the death penalty, two conservative Nebraska State Senators said today, that the State’s01
Nov
2016
Discussions on the reinstatement of the death penalty are expected to be taken to the General Assembly of the Turkish Parliament in the near future.The topic, which has been widely advocated by the public in the aftermath of the failed July 15 coup attempt, was once again brought to the forefront